Stoke got off to a roaring start exploding for 5 goals against Malaga. The manager decided to make a last minute substitution moving Diouf central, benching Peter Crouch, and moving Assaidi to right wing and it paid off, at least for this match. Assaidi was an assist machine notching three and a cracker of a goal himself. His highlight is below.

This was one of the strangest games I've played so far on FIFA. Aston Villa came out on fire. Benteke got the ball in the 12' and blew past the right side of the Swansea defense to blast the ball past an ill-placed Fabianski. Swansea then quickly turned it over in midfield, which led to an open field opportunity for Agbonlahor on the breakaway. The computer called a weak foul in the box on Swansea LB Taylor in the 14'. Benteke was able to put the PK away and Aston led 2-0 through 15'. Swansea answered quickly, with Bony blasting one home in 18'. Bony put one home again in the 41', on a nice cross from RM Dyer. 3' later, Sigurdsson was able to fire a goal home for a 3-2 halftime lead. One of the strangest plays ever occurred in the 49', as Aston put in a cross from the right side of the pitch, which was caught by Swansea GK Fabianski. Fabianski was then headbutted into the goal by Aston's Benteke and the computer registered it as an OG. The game was now tied 3-3. Sigurdsson was able to finalize the scoring in the 70' to salt away the home victory for Swansea.

In a classic rivalry dating back to last year's serie C where these two teams finished 1 and 2 in the league. However, West Brom holds the historical edge with 1 win and 1 tie last year. The Baggies coming off a opening game tie with Malaga looked to get their first win in Serie B. They came flying out of the gate with Varela netting two goals in the first 22' minutes. Conventry would not be held down they striped the ball off the Baggies just before half field turned around and would get taken down in front of the box. John Fleck put the FK over the wall and in the upper left 90 of the net to bring the score to 2-1. West Brom would strip the ball right before half field and almost in identical fashion except in stead of being taken down outside the box they would score to move the score 3-1. A late free kick way out side the box would find its way in the back of the net for Conventry off a mashup in the box and that would be your final score 3-2.

Confusion at Coventry City:As the start of the 2015 Serie B campaign kicked off City opened their three game schedule with rivals Calhockey10 and his Baggies, Lou and his underdog St. Etienne side, and TFS Legend Frenchie1916 and his Borussia side. Of the three matches skipper Beans was most concerned facing a seasoned pro in Frenchie1916. "The coach is a man amongst boys when it comes to FIFA, and I knew going into this match that we would have to throw everything at him to get a somewhat decent result, let alone any points."

The match brought excitment as well as some confusion to it as the Minnows of Coventry hosted the mighty Frenchie1916 to England. The game started out with the German side controlling the pace and tempo of the game as they were a faster more technically sound side. It only took eighteen minutes for the Germans to strike first as Raffael was able to hit a screamer of a shot near post on a one time effort to open the scoing 1-0. However, just twelve minutes later Josh McQuoid was able to equalize with a screamer of his own from 18 yards out which found side netting to knot things up at 1-1. "After scoring our first goal of the campaign and to do it agasint such a great opponent, we felt that as a team would might be able to compete with the talent that is in Serie B."

As the second half kicked off and some managerial tactic changes both sides played back and forth football, City hit the post as the Germans tested Ryan Allsop. City was then given a huge break as Simeon Jackson was hauled down in the box after latching onto a great over the top ball from McQuoid and a spot kick was given. Now this is where confusion sets in, after the penalty was given Beans decided to select Jackson to take the kick rather than the default kicker John Fleck. After Beans made the swap Jackson ran up on his own and booted the ball into the stands, irritating not only the City faithful but the manager as well. Frenchie1916 escaped the jaws of defeat and the match continued.

Again, the ever so "scripted" FIFA came out to play in the 90th minute as Josh McQuoid was "pulled" down in the box to give City a penalty in the 90th minute. "My initial thoughts at first were, to not change the kicker so there was no repeat of the Jackson incident and second was to be a fly on the wall at the Borussia managers camp as I assumed he was in disbelief at such an outrageous call." Fleck stepped up to the spot and was able to net the game winner, even with the German keeper diving the correct way to give City a 2-1 stunning win and three shocking points to their Serie B debut.

A matchup of Serie C teams from last season ends up a 1-0 win for Swansea. Both teams may be a bit too familiar with each other's tactics, as both defenses seem to know what was coming all game. Ki Sung Yueng scored on a pass that deflected off a St-E defender in the box early in the game. The match probably deserved to be a draw, but that goal was the decider.

Stoke City continues their strong start getting a win at home against Aston Villa. Stoke was able to control most of the game, however Aston Villa had their chances, they just couldn't get the shots on target. Diouf nets another two goals, one being on a penalty and notches an assist on a nice ball to Victor Moses. Stoke's keeper Begovic, who's been strong most of the season notches his first, well deserved, clean sheet.

A rivalry that was split in Serie C has moved up to Serie B as the 2 promoted sides met for their 1st leg of the 2015 campaign! Coventry City didn't expect Les Verts to come out swinging so quickly, as Lemoine wasted no time taking a ball in for the initial score. That wasn't all, as 20 minutes later, Gradel took control of a chip that he and the defender went up for and scored on the keeper. City was stunned, they never expected to be down 2-0 in the 1st half to the upstart Green!

The 2nd half was an entirely different half, as City went uber aggressive, pushing Saint Etienne into making mistakes, eventually leading to the poor touch by Sall into his own goal. In his frustration, Sall got a yellow for a late slide tackle, likely frustration from scoring on his own team. City had life, but Saint Etienne went full defensive and shut the door on any further chances, stealing a victory as the underdog.

There was a brief squabble during the press conference, but both managers seem to have decided to make nice. The rematch should be a good one, especially since it will be on City's turf!

Both teams played to an ugly draw with both teams easily trying to give the game away to the other. GG hokie79​

Click to expand...

Yea that was just amateur hour by both of us there - no idea why we just kept giving it away - btw the clean sheet is OCHOA -- he's my starter not Kameni. Just slight correction there. I checked the highlights and it only had 3! - and those were barely highlights - EA being nice to us...haha

In perhaps what was the worst game West Brom has played since joining the league last season they somehow manage to steal 3 points. Countless passes missing their receivers being absolutely manhandled by Borussia in all aspects of the game but they do prevail 1-0 in a ugly game. Borussia put the early pressure on and forced a free kick however West Brom gained control of the corner kick and quickly countered sprinting down the field and netting it in the back of the net going up 1-0. Then the Borussia domination ensued where they controlled possession 64% of the game but couldn't hit the broadside of the barn. B. Foster made 8 saves in securing the clean sheet and as the stadium began to empty after the game Borussia Manager was holding a impromptu practice on shooting drills

Monchengladbach - A tale of contrasting playing styles as veteran friends and rivals Frenchie1916 and UcanHateMeNow faced off for seemingly the infinity-eth time in their tenure as TFS managers. The record books would very likely show a very split record between the two, but what the numbers don't show is how different the managers approach the same game. The statistics from this match, however, paint a clearer portrait of how each approaches the pitch, his team and the game of football.

Frenchie held the lead - twice. But he couldn't hold said lead - either time. This is likely not surprising to anyone who has played the up-and-down manager over the years, who has shown consistency in only two areas: leaking goals late and woefully wayward shooting. Both would play a factor in this match, as Monchengladbach's 3-for-8 shots-on-target performance was only slight better than the earlier in the evening debacle at West Brom, which saw them undone by an almost unimaginable 2-for-12 ignominy against Calhockey10 .

But what was more telling in this match was the number of tackles and offsides each team had. Frenchie was conservative, nicking the ball from the Berlin players only 7 times, whereas UcanHateMeNow put up a stout wall of defense at the midfield line and threw himself bodily into 20 challenges. The Berliners were also caught offsides three times in the match (compared to zero for the home squad), and BMG's yellow card (and subsequent missed PK from Berlin) was earned through a quick break and a clumsy tackle in the box. The Berlin plan was to exploit the BMG back line either through deftly played through balls or footraces to over-the-top lobs all evening.

Where Frenchie's almost 60 percent possession showed a methodical, patient build up play that was (again) thwarted by the leaden shooting booths of die Fohlen, Ucan looked to stop the attack at midfield and hit the home squad on the quick counter.

"It's a shame I couldn't see this as clearly last night during the match as I can in the clear light of morning," Frenchie said. "I might have tried something a bit different to hold the lead. As it was, UcanHateMeNow played a marvelous game, stuck to his strategy and earned every bit of this draw. His corner in the 90th was as disappointing to me as I'm sure my corner in the 83rd was to him. So no blood was spilled on either part and we'll meet again in a few weeks. This time, I'll know what to expect and maybe I'll change my strategy and my formations a bit."